U.S. must stay strong against China menace

The debates and the election now are over, and we now face the financial cliff that is based on our often incredible spending and wasteful tax cuts, but there is one issue that came out of the debates that is also on the table. As the Republican candidate noted, our navy is indeed shrinking. Meanwhile, there is growing defense spending by China at a rate of 10 percent per year.

Our allies, including those in Europe and those who are now in the South and East China Sea, as well as the Pacific are alarmed at China's growth and harassment of many nations, as it builds its navy and its air force. Some nations that have oil rich islands, such as Japan and Vietnam, are often challenged with Japan now considering the abolishing of its Constitution to rearm. Meanwhile growing incursions are happening in the Philippines where China is flexing its growing military muscle, and even Australia faces issues, as do others.

India is seen as a potential rival of China and an ally of the U.S. with its navy of 300 ships, but India has had a previous military experience with China over border territory, and years ago India remembers loss of troops and loss of face. China has a growing navy, posibly three aircraft carriers, a growing fleet of submarines, second-generation stealth fighters, and a growing fleet of attack copters in its C919, which has been recently been seen in a number of air shows. China is leapfrogging its way to top arms seller, a dubious distinction we held.

It may be true that we spend more on defense than possibly 10 to 15 next ranking nations combined, but that is no comforting factor for Japan, which may see a need to increase its defense spending exponentially to keep China from its shores, or for Vietnam, Singapore, Burma, and a host of other nations that are not happy with a U.S. decline in the area, and a rise in the former Middle Kingdom.

Spending needs to be reined in on our economy whether it be revenues or spending, but rebuilding of our infrastructure to creating jobs, and jogging the economy to growth is necessary for the domestic economy and for our defense. China is now undergoing a major change in its political leadership. We cannot retrench in the Far East, and we need Europe to wake up to its EU, a dream held by DeGaulle, a French hero, and Adenauer, a German statesman.

It is hard to have a guns-and-butter economy, but we need to pick our fights, and we need not to become isolationist, but as a world power on two oceans, and on all continents. Asia, however, is the future, and that future is tied to a healthy United States.

Bill Weightman

HARDYSTON

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U.S. must stay strong against China menace

The debates and the election now are over, and we now face the financial cliff that is based on our often incredible spending and wasteful tax cuts, but there is one issue that came out of the

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